Stop listening to your customers and start observing. Paco Underhill's brilliant book “Why We Buy," is filled with hard evidence of shoppers doing the opposite of what they say. And employees often think that more money is a major key to job satisfaction when in reality it’s way down the list. So, just listening without observing can be very misleading! It’s only when you take the time to observe and ask questions in order to really understand the problems customers are trying to solve (rather than the solutions they think they need) that you can invent some really great new solutions!
It’s the innovators job to see through the noise and come up with the innovative solution rather than just produce what the customer says they want. It’s very much like Henry Ford when he said, “if I had asked people what they wanted they would've asked for a faster horse.” But instead of listening to their demands he solved their speed problems and much, much more! Even the late Steve Jobs of Apple fame said “customers don't know what they want until you show them.” (I think most of us can agree with that, since we didn't know we needed an iPad or iPhone until we saw all the great solutions embedded in the device.) Getting to know the problems your customers are facing intimately (both inside and outside your company) will help you do that. There is a reason focus groups flop, many would-be customers think they know what they want but it's the actual shopping experience and the surprises they encounter while in the store that account for the additional sixty percent of purchases that were unplanned. According to Paco we begin to buy when we have an experience with the product as a solution in our minds, then when we touch it we begin to own it even more, long before the monetary transaction takes place.
If you can create a way for customers to try before they buy (begin the experience of owning) before plunking down money you will find you are able to close a lot more sales. Like the car dealership that lets you take home the new car without buying, it's a lot harder to give it up when it's been parked in your garage. The same goes for managers trying to inspire or induce employees to buy in to a new program or system change. Employees who have a chance to experiment with change or new systems before the mandatory rollout are far more likely to embrace and own the change than those who are just asked to trust management and make big leaps of faith.
Again, real research and observation is the key to break through innovation!
By: Kevin Minne
InnovationGrowthSystems.com
720-354-0291
It’s the innovators job to see through the noise and come up with the innovative solution rather than just produce what the customer says they want. It’s very much like Henry Ford when he said, “if I had asked people what they wanted they would've asked for a faster horse.” But instead of listening to their demands he solved their speed problems and much, much more! Even the late Steve Jobs of Apple fame said “customers don't know what they want until you show them.” (I think most of us can agree with that, since we didn't know we needed an iPad or iPhone until we saw all the great solutions embedded in the device.) Getting to know the problems your customers are facing intimately (both inside and outside your company) will help you do that. There is a reason focus groups flop, many would-be customers think they know what they want but it's the actual shopping experience and the surprises they encounter while in the store that account for the additional sixty percent of purchases that were unplanned. According to Paco we begin to buy when we have an experience with the product as a solution in our minds, then when we touch it we begin to own it even more, long before the monetary transaction takes place.
If you can create a way for customers to try before they buy (begin the experience of owning) before plunking down money you will find you are able to close a lot more sales. Like the car dealership that lets you take home the new car without buying, it's a lot harder to give it up when it's been parked in your garage. The same goes for managers trying to inspire or induce employees to buy in to a new program or system change. Employees who have a chance to experiment with change or new systems before the mandatory rollout are far more likely to embrace and own the change than those who are just asked to trust management and make big leaps of faith.
Again, real research and observation is the key to break through innovation!
By: Kevin Minne
InnovationGrowthSystems.com
720-354-0291
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